Did she have babies?

[Rhys_Pieces]

I got home from work about a week ago to find one of my guppies that I suspected of being pregnant with an enlarged rear oriface. She was also obviously smaller than when I left to go to work, however other than that I am seeing no evidence of mini ones. Help what could this be?

[myriam]

Well she was either:
1) Pregnant, and she had all her babies and ate them just as quickly (are there others in the tank who could also have had a fry meal?).
or
2) Constipated, and she finally pushed a big poo out.

How is she behaving? Is she eating and swimming normally?

[Rhys_Pieces]

Yeah she is eating and behaving like normal and the males have even started to pest her again.

[platylover]

She very well could have been pregnant and dropped her fry. Guppy fry are very small and are very likely hiding under decorations or in the gravel, if you have a gravel substrate. Hiding is their no. 1 defense from becoming someone's lunch and they are very good at it. I have had platy fry that have hidden so well that when I thought that all of them were eaten, a couple would come out a couple of weeks later. If you are planning on keeping some fry for your tank, be very careful when you use a gravel vac. I have saved probably 20 fry from an early grave by vacing into a bucket and slowly scooping out the water from that bucket until there is about an inch of water left in the bucket and using a flashlight to see if there are any little guys in the bucket.

[PlatyLady]

I'd have to agree with myriam and platylover. Those fry are really tiny. I have some in my tank, but I'd never see them if it weren't for gravel vaccuuming - mulm going up the tube, and little fry swimming desperately against the current.

Of course, as myriam said, she could have just been constipated. When mine get too much to eat, you can really tell by their bellies.

[jlindseyjr]

Platylady and Platylover,
I am going to finally get my 20 [acronym:c04ed757fb="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:c04ed757fb] set up this weekend and plan to keep platies(1 male and 3 females) and yoyo loaches(3). Since there will invariably be fry, I was thinking of java moss and water sprite for them to hide in. Can these plants cause any problems?

[platylover]

I don't know much about live plants, but I know that java moss will work for the fry. They have a place to hide and there are micro organisms that grow on the plant that they will eat. Java Moss also requires a low light situation, so I think that it would do fine under regular lighting. I could be wrong on that last one, but like I said, I don't really know much about the live plants.

[jlindseyjr]

Thanks

[Rhys_Pieces]

I should be moving soon and since I will have to pull the set-up down for the transport I was thinking of adding java moss so in the future the fry will have a better chance. I presently have gravel and I read where that may not be the best substrate for moss, please advise if anyone knows.

[Fruitbat]

Java Moss actually does quite well regardless of the substrate. It will grow quite happily just resting on the top of your substrate but it looks REALLY cool if you attach it to driftwood or a piece of rock (use black, cotton thread....it blends in reasonably well and will eventually deteriorate on its own). Java Moss doesn't have roots and derives all of its inorganic nutrients by absorbing them from the water.